Man accused of killing woman 31 years ago denied bail

Jay Mercier is led from Somerset Superior Court in Skowhegan, Maine on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2011 by Maine state troopers following a hearing. Mercier was charged last week in the death of 20-year-old Rita St. Peter, whose battered body was found near the side of a road in Anson on July 5, 1980.

A justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s decision and ordered 56-year-old Jay Mercier of Industry to continue being held without bail based on the nature of the crime and the evidence against him.